YOU CAN Make a Living In The Music Industry Podcast

This week we are wrapping up season 5 with two amazing guests! I’m talking with Eric Knight & Ritch Esra of MUBUTV (Music Business Television) in Los Angeles, CA. These guys have a combined goldmine of knowledge and advice that covers the whole gambit of the music industry. Ritch worked at two record labels; A&M in radio promotion and Arista in A&R where he had the privilege of working with the legendary Clive Davis who has signed some of the biggest artists in the world including Whitney Houston and Kelly Clarkson. Eric has opened for such acts as KISS, Dave Matthews Band, Aerosmith and Kid Rock. He started his own artist management company Persistent Management™ not only for his own career as an artist but also to create a vehicle for other artists to achieve their artistic vision and integrity. Their MUBUTV Insider Series and Insider podcast is similar to my YOU CAN Make A Living In The Music Industry podcast as they have guests from all over the industry sharing knowledge that will help you make a living in music no matter what area you are pursuing. We are a companion series to each other and I can’t recommend them enough to check out (after you listen to this episode of course!) We are discussing the importance of being educated about your chosen career path. Why you no longer need a record deal to be successful. Why you have to be a jack of all trades AND a master of all. Plus, learning who your audience is, finding where they are, then going after them. And we discuss how MUBUTV’s goal is to educate, empower and engage your music career.

BIO:

Ritch Esra | Co-Founder

I started my career in 1978 at Record World, a leading trade magazine and have spent my entire career in this industry.  From 1980 - 1987 I worked at two record labels; A&M in radio promotion and Arista in A&R where I had the privilege of working with the legendary Clive Davis.

Eric Knight | Co-Founder

As an independent recording artist, I have taken the contemporarily appropriate “do-it-yourself” attitude to a whole new level; Having opened for such acts as KISS, Dave Matthews Band, Aerosmith and Kid Rock, I have worked tirelessly to introduce my original music to the masses.

This week I’m talking with Julie Klinger who is the executive director of the Christian Festival Association. Julie oversees 25 festivals around the country. We are discussing what the CFA does, the importance of volunteers to make music festivals of any genre successful, how to start your own local festival and what artists who want to perform at music festivals need to do to make sure they are invited back.

Julie began her career in Christian music as a volunteer for a small start-up free festival called LifeLight in Sioux Falls, SD.  While volunteering, she worked full-time as an adoption social worker receiving her Master's Degree in Social Work in 2005.  She then became the Adoption Program and Grants Director.  Over her nine years as a volunteer, the festival grew from a small one-day festival on a church lawn to the largest free outdoor Christian Music Festival in the nation.  Julie left her career in social work in 2007 and joined the LifeLight staff full-time as the Festival Director.  Eventually, Julie was promoted to the Vice President of Events and Operations at LifeLight.  

During her time at LifeLight she became an at-large board member for the Christian Festival Association (CFA) and eventually became the Vice President of the CFA Board. After leaving LifeLight in 2016, Julie returned to nonprofit management work.  Julie was offered and accepted the position as Executive Director of the CFA in January of 2019, while also continuing her nonprofit work.  Julie started her own consulting firm, The Tricycle Group, in August of 2021 and currently works full-time for various organizations helping them accelerate their momentum in the areas of program development, grant management and strategic planning.  Julie's vision for the CFA is to see the love of God spread across the country and globe through Christian music festivals and to inspire festival attendees to get involved in serving others in their communities.

The Christian Festival Association was formed in 2006 and is comprised of North America’s largest Christian music festivals united by a common goal: to bring glory to God.  We meet regularly via conference calls and at an annual meeting in Nashville to discuss matters such as talent development, spiritual content, event production and marketing, national sponsorship acquisition and much more.

The mission of the Christian Festival Association is to promote positive communication and synergies between the nation's top Christian festivals.

Our goal is to see these member organizations grow both spiritually and fiscally so that more lives can be changed for glory of God.

This week I’m talking with writer, producer and composer Brian Steckler in CA. Brian has made a successful career for himself producing albums, composing for sync and library production music with NBC, CBS, Netflix and more. Brian has won a Clio award for helping create the audio and star in one of the most famous Super Bowl ads of all time as a certain frog who liked to say “er!” We are discussing working for a jingle company and creating world famous ads, writing production library music used on countless shows, finding your niche to work in a field of music that only you can provide and how you need to decide what success looks like for you.

I have made a career of creating music in a wide variety of forms and genres. The scope of my experience includes collaborations with directors, editors, and ad agencies for commercial musical purposes as well as working with individual artists, and bands to create and hone unique musical styles.This range of experience has given me a broad musical basis to draw from. I enjoy learning what people want and need musically, and then bringing even more than they expect to both the process and the result.

After receiving my BFA (piano performance) from Western Michigan University in 1993, I moved to Nashville and began my career at Hummingbird Productions, one of the leading jingle houses on Music Row at the time. It was there I co-produced the audio and lent my voice to one of the most recognized, Clio-winning Super Bowl commercials of all time: Budweiser “Frogs.” I wrote and produced national, regional, and local spots during my years at Hummingbird and it was there that I learned how to deliver great sounding audio on very tight deadlines.

I moved to Los Angeles in 1997 in order to pursue songwriting and production and began working with artists and bands crafting songs, producing tracks, and mixing my own work, as well as other producer’s songs. I wrote songs for Sony ATV Music Publishing, including co-writing with Billy Porter, Gary Barlow (Take That), Paul Stanley (KISS), 2Gether (an MTV boy band spoof series), and many others. With artist Angela Via, I co-wrote and produced a song that landed in Pokemon: The Movie and on the multi-platinum selling soundtrack album. It was also during this time I had my first taste of film scoring, working closely with Keith Forsey (Billy Idol’s long-time record producer) to create the score for Wisegirls, a film starring Mira Sorvino and Mariah Carey. 

As the record industry underwent significant changes during the Napster era, my wife and I chose to move our young family to Northern California. While maintaining my relationships in LA, I was able to work with independent artists and bands, as well as grow my skills and experience scoring, working for Universal Pictures on trailers and promos, as well as regularly placing cues in TV shows. 

Recently, I’ve written the score for the Netflix series The Day I Met El Chapo, provided the bulk of the music, including the Main Title theme for a number of other series: Hunted (CBS), S.T.R.O.N.G. (NBC), Ultimate Beastmaster, Awake, Cooked with Cannabis (Netflix). I also had the opportunity to score the award winning documentary Hand Rolled: A Film About Cigars, as well as Sun, Soil & Water, which is currently being screened at a number of film festivals.  

This week I am talking with Richard Casper of CreatiVets in Nashville, TN. Richard is a military veteran that suffered a brain injury in the war and has since found healing through music. He co-founded the non-profit CreatiVets to help other veterans write songs with hit songwriters that help them communicate their thoughts and feelings to start the healing process. Richard also co-founded the songwriting app We Should Write Sometime that allows writers from all over to connect with other songwriters.  We are discussing learning to write music to cope with trauma, starting multiple music related companies, changing the way music is accessible and how your anxieties and depression have to be outweighed by your excitement when writing.

Sponsors: Edenbrooke Productions - We offer consulting services and are offering listeners a 1-hour introductory special. To request more info on consulting services, email Marty at [email protected]. 

In this episode we discuss:

BIO:

This week I’m talking with Adam Taylor, president of APM Music. APM is the world's leading creative music house and production music library. With placements in network tv, Netflix and Disney +  to tons of blockbuster films, it’s no wonder APM is at the forefront of the sync and music production library world. Crazy thing about Adam, he has no musical bones in his body, yet he runs the largest music production library in the world! We are discussing how someone with no musical background can become the leader of music related company, the key to the music library business and what APM looks for when hiring new staff members.

For over two decades, Adam Taylor has been helping intellectual property companies, organizations and individuals manage and extract value from their copyrights, trademarks and patents. As president of APM, Adam continues to reinforce the company's standing as an innovative creative house and production music library with one of the most diverse collections of original music for every type of media. 

This week I’m talking with Rehya Stevens. Rehya is a very successful indie pop artist who also makes a great living in the sync world. She’s had placements on Lifetime, Peacock, Disney +, ABC, Hallmark and more, plus, multiple commercial ads. We are discussing filling a hole needed in the sync industry with Christmas music, how to reach out to outlets who review music and how to take the next best step when things don’t work out the way you hope.

Rehya is especially adept at writing music that enhances the joys of the holiday season - and in so doing, rekindles the sentiment and kinship that’s so integral to that precious time of year. It’s especially important now, given the distancing, distrust and trepidation that have become so commonplace of late. Thankfully, Rehya’s music provides a formidable space to reinforce the bonds of brotherhood and fellowship that are so essential, not only at Christmas, but every day of the year.

This week I am talking with Benjamin and Kassie Wilson of the Americana duo Goldpine. Formerly called My One and Only, Goldpine is cathartic, moody, raucous, and relevant all wrapped into one package as they tour the U.S. playing for audiences large and small. We are discussing changing band names and how it affects you, starting over from an audience perspective and The process of booking shows as an indie artist.

*Changing band names and how it affects you.

BIO:

This week I am talking with Doug Gould of Worship MD. Doug is tech consultant who works with venues all over the country, helping train them in running their sound equipment and getting the best sound out of their gear and room. He specializes in working with houses of worship and getting sound teams and worship teams to work together and create the best environment for people coming to worship services. Doug is also the artist relations rep for different musical companies. We are discussing training volunteers to run sound in churches, what a Worship MD weekend training event looks like and the difference in communicating with people in various types of venues.

Sponsors: Edenbrooke Productions - We offer consulting services and are offering listeners a 1-hour introductory special. To request more info on consulting services, email Marty at [email protected]. 

BIO:

This week I am talking with recording artist Mac Powell live from Lifest Music City just outside of Nashville, TN. Mac is best known as the frontman for the Christian rock band Third Day who released 13 albums in 21 years and received 4 Grammy Awards and 25 Dove Awards. He has been building his solo career over the past few years and is not shy to talk about starting over as a solo artist after being in a successful band for many years. We are discussing being stuck in a contract you want out of, the difference in being on an indie label vs. major label and not being afraid to play in front of smaller audiences.

Sponsors: Edenbrooke Productions - We offer consulting services and are offering listeners a 1-hour introductory special. To request more info on consulting services, email Marty at [email protected]. 

*Being stuck in a contract you want out of.

BIO:

This week I’m talking with Chris Bragg and Travis Michaud of Ghostwriter Music here in Nashville and in L.A. Ghostwriter is one of the most sought after companies that creates exciting and emotional music put to the trailers we love to watch when anticipating the release of a new tv show or movie coming to theaters. Their music has been used in trailers for Thor: Love and Thunder, Sonic The Hedgehog, She-Hulk, Star Wars: Andor and so much more! We are discussing when Ghostwriter gets involved to write music for a trailer, how you get paid when creating music for trailers and the number 1 rule of writing music for trailers. These guys should know, they are some of the best in the business!

Sponsors: Edenbrooke Productions - We offer consulting services and are offering listeners a 1-hour introductory special. To request more info on consulting services, email Marty at [email protected]. 

In this episode we discuss: